Another ignition question

[Eric12171]

Hi again,
I have another question about my ignition
79 special, stock ignition , points etc.

It started having a slight cutout on me when I was riding,
Now it’s worse,
It was sitting at idle and it would just cut out occasionally like 1cylinder wasn’t firing.
Then it got worse to where it will start when cold then dies out once it gets slightly warm.
Now it wont start at all .

So far tested :

Battery 12.9
Both coils 4.0 ohms
Coils to plug cap , I had to redo some things ,
Had 1 hitting 23 or so
Now they are both at 14ohm

Grounds are good,
Points are set and timed

Checked the spark with my plug checker
Right one gets a good spark occasionally.
Left barely anything.

I’m left with guessing the condenser is bad ?

It’s maybe 6 months old along with the points and less than 1000 miles.



Thanks in advance .

 

[Jan_P]

One advantage with a two cylinder is that it can run on one cylinder if something is wrong
Cylinder specific

I would measure charging Voltage across battery
Then I would shift place on the spark plugs se if the fault follows
Then I would open the cover at the points se how it looks sparking
Is the battery Old ?

And check the advance mechanism so it is retarding properly if not it can make it stall

 

[Eric12171]

The battery is about as old as the other parts mentioned .

Charging at 2k is about 13.6v or so

With the ignition on I’m getting 12.6 volts at each orange coil wire.

I can’t get it to start again to find anything else out.


I think I have another set of points still .
I’ll try swapping them out tomorrow to see if that does anything.

 

[Jan_P]

Would like to see a bit more charging perhaps rev some more getting 14 V
13.5 is borderline suspect a fresh battery can have that without charging happening
Are we talking e start or kick start here ?
The e start is weak and consumes to much power preventing startup.
Is it spinning strong .? Charge the battery ?
Could measure what Voltage at the Points to ground
Petcock om Pri

The Voltages reported should make some noise coming out on some Cylinder at
Kick start attempts ..Not necessary on e start if weak battery

 

[Kevin Werner]

Look at spark when you kick it over. If both sparks are good (with 12.6v on the battery) you have a voltage drop/battery problem. If sparks are still weak you have an ignition problem.

 

[Eric12171]

I think I got it.
Seems it was a combination of things.

Bad plug wire,
A bunch of crap in my tank. Clogging the screw.
Fuel filter was flowing enough,
And some gunk in my pilots

Seems to be running good Now.
See how long it lasts

 

[Jan_P]

OK Good but please measure Charging Voltage across battery lights on and some revs.
It is easy to do and can save you a towing and a long walk some rainy Night.
If it is the Old regulator an adjustment is possible See if it is slightly above 14
Brushes can also need replacement ..

 

[Eric12171]

I’m using a jeep regulator,
Still hitting 13.6 max even over3000 rpm

I hooked up my old regular, the original adjustable one , I’m pretty sure I have it set close to max, but still get the same readings.

The brushes still should be good , but I’ll switch them out next and see what happens.

 

[Kevin Werner]

The battery need 14-14.4 v charge while running 3000rpm and up. There is a magnet test test outlined in the tech section that is simple to perform that tells if your stator is good. You need to lock this up inn the tech section but I think it is "hold 0.002 feer gauge 1/8 inch from the left side cover. Turn om the ignition switch and the feeler gauge should be pulled to the lalternator housing.

 

[Eric12171]

This is with a .0035 guage
The .002 slaps right to it.

I have the steel extended shifter and it actually magnetized it as well.

Maybe that’s not a good thing ?

 

[Eric12171]

Here’s the .002 with the shifter out of the way

 

[Its been a long time]

Here’s the .002 with the shifter out of the way

Well, no denying that's energising the rotor windings for sure

With the shifter out of the way, might be worth pulling the round cover off and measuring the resistance across the two copper brush tracks. Need to check, but memory tells me a reading of around 5 ohms is considered good.

 

[Eric12171]

Having my meter on this setting it’s reading 5.6 from band to band

 

[Its been a long time]

Having my meter on this setting it’s reading 5.6 from band to band

Good to go

 

[5twins]

How dirty are the slip rings? A little carbon transfer from the brushes to the rings is normal and supposedly beneficial to making good contact, but if the rings get too dirty, you can start losing contact.

On your old mechanical regulator, there are two gaps that need to be checked. Once those are set correctly, you can do the adjustment if needed. I say that because on mine the gaps were off and correcting them "fixed" the output. I didn't need to do any adjusting ......

 

[Eric12171]

Well I think I rectified my charging problem

I redid a lot of my wiring, I was apparently in a hurry to get it running and never went back to clean anything up.

Went through everything,
Finally came to the conclusion that I did something to the vr115 regulator.

Thanks Five twins for pointing that out about the stock regulator.
I got it set up and now it’s putting out 14.4 at a little over 2000 rpm
I think I’ll stick with the stock one.



And for a side note.
I ordered a small bolt from mikes a while back. They messed up and sent me the complete clutch actuator assembly.
There’s a picture of how I have it set.
Single pushrod setup.
Works great have to give it a little adjustment occasionally but not much.

And a picture of the triumph seat I picked up.
Bungeed on to try it out